DAVAO CITY — The House of Representatives will resume the interpellation period for House Bill 5811, the substitute bill to the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) on Tuesday, August 4, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on the BBL, told MindaNews Tuesday.
Before Congress adjourned sine die late evening of June 10, only eight of 38 representatives who had signed up had completed their interpellation of the sponsors of HB 5811 or what the Committee refers to as the Basic Law for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BLBAR).
At the Senate, Senator Ferdinand Marcos, chair of the Committee on Local Government, has yet to submit his substitute bill to SB 2408, the draft BBL crafted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC).
Marcos last month vowed to submit his substitute bill before the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 27, claiming the draft BBL in its present form and substance would “lead us to perdition.”
He told reporters at the sidelines of President’s SONA at the House of Representatives on July 27, that he would submit the substitute bill “probably next week.”
Later in the interview, Marcos said, “We’re trying it to get it done by next week, baka (maybe) the week after. Soon.”
Marcos maintained that the problems the draft BBL are facing now “did not come from Congress.”
“Not Congress’ fault” “The problems of the BBL, whatever they may be, the delays that the BBL suffered … that was not Congress that caused those delays. So whatever you might say, delaying or that it was not properly attended to, we certainly do not feel alluded to because we have not stopped working at Congress for close to a year now,” Marcos said, according to the transcript of the interview posted on his website.
The Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), the 15-member body tasked to draft the BBL and composed of eight representatives from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and seven from the Philippine government (GPH), submitted it to Congress in ceremonial rites held at Malacanang on September 10, 2014. The draft BBL became HB 4994 in the House and SB 2408 in the Senate.
Asked if he thinks the BBL can still be passed within the Aquino administration – it will end its term on June 30, 2016 — Marcos replied, “kayang mapasa, pero kung kelan ma implement, mahirap kasi may plebisito pa, may eleksyon pa, may mga Supreme Court challenges pa. Hindi natin masasabi kung gaano katagal yang mga ‘yan” (it can be passed but when it will be implemented, it’s difficult because there is still a plebiscite, an election, and Supreme Court challenges. We cannot say how long that will take).
He hinted on the chan-ges that his substitute bill would introduce: “Yes, we tried to fix all the unconstitutional problems, we tried to fix administrative problems, we are presently grappling with the economic provisions, and the checks and balances on the large amounts of funding that National Government will provide, and who will be accountable for that, and the transparency that is necessary for it to be known that I can only describe is vast amount of money being given to Bangsamoro will be taken to the right place.” (MindaNews)
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